The NBA: a showcase of some of the world’s best athletes, the best teams playing the best games ever and, yes, the world’s biggest ball hogs.
Isn’t basketball supposed to be a “team” sport?
Enter Steve Nash. There’s a reason this assist-leader is in the running for his third consecutive MVP award. He knows the meaning of “teamwork.”
Sure Kobe Bryant shares the court with four so-called teammates, but what about the ball?
Nash is averaging 11.5 assists per game. You don’t lead the league in that category by shooting every time you are within 30 feet of the basket.
The 33-year-old point guard is the glue that holds the Suns together. There’s a reason the Suns suffered some of their worst losses of the season when Nash wasn’t on the floor.
He makes everyone around him better.
Let’s compare the Suns to a car for a minute. Nash is the oil that makes everything run smoothly; without him, everything breaks down.
Nash is also the clutch. He gets the Suns started and shifts them into overdrive when necessary.
And he does it all without mad dunks or pounding his chest like a gorilla (something we’ve all seen Kobe do more than once).
If you’re looking for another reason Nash should be MVP for the third year in a row, look no further than his size.
He is not your typical NBA star.
He isn’t a 7-foot-4, 315-pound black guy. In fact, he isn’t even the 7-foot white guy Dirk Nowitzki is.
There are girls on the U volleyball team who are taller and more intimidating than Nash, and that is what makes him great.
He looks like an average guy, and everybody loves an underdog.
He’s a little guy making huge plays at crucial points in the game–all while making his teammates look good.
The Suns are the only team with three All-Stars. They also lead the league in assists, field goal percentage, three-points percentage and points per game — and Nash is the catalyst that makes all that happen.
Sure, not every MVP prospect has two other All-Stars on his team, but without Nash, the Suns have no All-Stars.
He’s calling the shots and giving players such as Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire a chance to make big plays. Take Nash away from the Suns and all hell breaks loose. Better yet, transplant Kobe or Dirk onto the Suns for Nash and things don’t get much better.
Sure Nowitzki is an important part of the Mavericks, but when he is off, the best team in the league goes on. The Mavs don’t run around looking like chickens with their heads cut off (which is what the Suns look like without Nash). In fact, they manage to function in a relatively normal fashion.
In a super-close MVP race, Nash will pull away from Nowitzki and Kobe because he is the MVP. He’s the most valuable player to his team.
That’s why less than two months from now, Nash will join the likes of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird as one of only four players to win the MVP award three years in a row. For me, that’s pretty fly for a white guy.
